Russian MoD could order up to 40 SSJ-100 airliners

The Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company may deliver up to 40 75-seat SSJ-100 planes to the Russian Defense Ministry and up to 10 aircraft of the same type to the Rossiya special flight detachment, Company President Alexander Rubtsov said.

A SSJ-100 airliner(Credit: UAC)

"We have potential orders for 10 and from 30 to 40 SSJ-100 planes from the Rossiya special flight detachment and the Defense Ministry, respectively. Talks with the Emergencies Ministry are under way so far," Rubtsov said.

"Framework contracts are not usually signed with law enforcement agencies as there is a federal law requiring serious procurement tenders," he added. According to the company’s president, the supplies may begin in 2023.

"Our program is as follows: we are planning to make experimental prototypes by 2022 and start delivering planes of the type to the military and the law enforcement agencies, and the special flight detachment in 2023 and then to commercial operators in 2024 or 2025," Rubtsov said.

Speaking about components for the planes, Rubtsov said that "the SaM-146 engine and its versions are regarded as the main options. This is for our internal customers and law enforcement agencies," the company’s president said.

"As for commercial customers, we are studying an option of using the best engines available on the market. The talk is about both US- and Russian-made high-bypass-ratio engines that will save us about seven or eight percent," he added.According to him, the plane’s new version will be more tolerant of the state of runways.In February, Rubtsov said that the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company had started to develop the 75-seat version of the SSJ-100 plane. These plans were unveiled for the first time in late 2017.